


Trials

by Maybethings



Series: May Be Promptin' [70]
Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Comfort, Drabble, Gen, PTSD, Post-Canon, Prayer, Prompt Fic, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-20
Updated: 2012-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-03 23:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/387148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maybethings/pseuds/Maybethings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Promptfic. Cullen/Cauthrien - Prayer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trials

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlameTheTemplar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlameTheTemplar/gifts).



_“Blessed are the peacekeepers, champions of the just.  
Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow.  
In their blood the Maker’s will is written.”_

Cullen almost chokes over the last words of his prayer. He’s seen enough blood to drown the Fereldan and Kirkwallian Circle twice over. The only reason he’s still doing this is because nobody else can, and so he must. Sometimes he feels like a collection of skin and bones, unable to feel or think, merely driven darkly forward by a sole, blinding purpose.

He wonders if that is what the Darktown apostate felt like.

He doesn’t recognise the lady when she comes in. She shouldn’t recognise him either; Cullen doesn’t enter a Chantry in his armour any more. But she takes knee like a warrior, shoulders hunched as if supporting the weight of a sword no longer there, and prays aloud in a voice he remembers from the Blight, a time that seems almost comforting now.

_“Maker, my enemies are abundant.  
Many are those who rise up against me.  
But my faith sustains me; I shall not fear the legion,  
Should they set themselves against me.”_

He starts praying with her, his words wavering and his eyes watering for reasons he can’t explain. Together, they make it through a whole 16 verses of Trials.

_“Draw your last breath, my friends,  
Cross the Veil and the Fade and all the stars in the sky.  
Rest at the Maker’s right hand,  
And be Forgiven.”_

That’s when Cullen raises his voice enough to be audible; that’s when the swordswoman turns, and that’s when they recognise each other at last.

**Author's Note:**

> Cullen and Cauth are reciting the, you guessed it, [Canticle of Trials.](http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Chant_of_Light_Verses#Canticle_of_Trials)


End file.
